Question #1- I was brought up a catholic, but i think i am going to switch to a different branch of Christianity because i think Catholicism is way too strict. But i do believe God created the world and universe. I think creation was kind of a combination of god's creation with the big bang theory. I have come to believe that god created the big bang and everything after it in our world. I don't know if I explained it all that well.
Question # 2- I believe there is suffering because of free will. People have the ability to choose what path to take or the choices to make. I think that the consequences of our actions cause a lot of suffering. I know in Christianity, it is thought that there is suffering in the world because god gave us all our crosses to bear. I also believe in this. Things that happen that we have no control of (ex. cancer, sickness, death) i believe are our crosses and suffering given by god. I have been taught (and believe the majority of the time) that he gives us these because he loves us, and wants us to rely on him through the hard times. As humans, we all have these uncontrollable sufferings. But i think that we all create unnecessary suffering based on our actions. When we push people away, are mean to them, commit a crime, it think that we are basically causing ourselves much more trouble and suffering. But we do it anyways, because god gave us freewill.
Question #3- I believe in trying to live an honest, good life. First, i just want to say i defiantly do not do this a lot of the time. I screw up, a lot. But when i make choices, i usually try and make the decision that will have a positive impact. I have a strong belief in community service, and helping others. I think all people who have been blessed with so much have a duty to help those who haven't. I also believe in kindness. I always try and put myself in someone elses shoes in many situations. This makes me realize what they are going through and gives me so much more compassion and patience for them.
Question #4- What happens next? This is one of the things i have kind of been struggling with recently. I have been brought up to believe that there is a heaven and hell. And I really really want to believe in one, because i can't stand to think about how limited my time would be without one. 100 years is not a long time at all. I guess this question is one of those things you won't really know, until it actually happens. This one i think is the hardest question. I don't really have an answer, but i defiantly would like to think there is one. I guess this goes along with this, but i think i do belive in arudian angels. I kind of think of my grandmother, or grammy as mine. She died a year ago, and it has been hard on all of us. To think that her time is gone, and that she doesn't even exist anymore is really hard. So i think she is in heavan, wathcing over me.
Iris: Hello Ganesha. I studied your mom Parvati for a project. When you stood in the way of your father Shiva to protect your mom, were you scared at all?
Ganesha: I was a little scared, Shiva was very big, powerful, and intimidating. But it was my job (dharma?) to protect my mom.
Iris: Ganesha, how do you feel about the elephant head that your father found? Do you miss your other head?
Ganesha: It was really scary when he cut my head off, but the trunk isn't all that bad. And now my vehicle is the elephant, which represents wisdom.
Iris: Ganesha, how many times have you been reincarnated? Do you remember anything from your past lives?
Ganesha: I don't remember anything personal from my other lives, since i left my past jivas behind.
When you first explained this assignment on Friday, I was pretty excited. For our homework, we got to sit and just relax for 5 minutes everyday. This was very appealing, especially considering I am up everyday at 6 for volleyball workouts and don't get home until 6 to do homework. It seems like I never get a break; so this 5 minutes of relaxing seemed like the perfect homework assignment. Until I actually tried to be mindful on my first day, I didn't realize how hard it would be. My family and I were at a lacrosse tournament this entire weekend, so I decided to be mindful on Friday in the car on the way to Daytona. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Like I mentioned before, I don't really get quite breaks like this very often, so I tried to soak it all in. Even though I was in complete silence, I could not focus and clear my head. Thoughts about what I had to do the upcoming week, the tournament, and volleyball were all just rushing through my head. I tried to just calm myself down, but the silence seemed to frazzle me more. It brought more things to my mind that I hadn't thought to worry about. Being quiet and just thinking was kind of new for me, and freaked me out in a way. I eventually just gave up, opened my eyes, and turned on some music. Saturday's meditation went a lot better. I was at the lacrosse fields for the majority of the day, but we came back and went to the beach. Sarah Munger also has a brother on the lacrosse team, so we both went to the beach. She and I were sitting on the warm sand, and this assignment came to mind. I closed my eyes and tried to meditate. I took in the different sounds: the seagulls soaring over us, the couples walking along the beach, the waves crashing along the shore. I took in a deep breath and tried to relax. This time I tried focusing on these sounds, instead of just silence. I think this tactic worked a lot better. Whenever something worrisome would cross my mind, I would try and just focus on the sounds of the beach. I think this really helped. After I thought it had been about 5 minutes, I opened my eyes. I realized I felt much more relaxed. I wasn't stressed about anything, and just got to enjoy the say on the beach with my friend. Sunday, I tried the tactic of listening to something while being mindful. I looked up sounds of the ocean, since the beach is my all time place in the world. I turned it on, sat on my bed, and just focused on the waves. I began to just get lost in them. I focused on my breathing and the waves, and hardly any stressful thoughts came to mind. After awhile, I opened my eyes. 15 minutes had passed! I was so surprised, it had only felt like 5. Afterwords, i felt very relaxed and more at peace.
If I was God, and I was giving the Ten Commandments all over again, I would not take any of them out. I believe that all of the commandments there are very important to live by, not only for Christians and Jews, but all people. The first commandments about how to worship God obviously doesn't really apply to non monotheistic religious people, but all of the other commandments should be observed by them. I believe that honoring your father and mother, not coveting your neighbor;s things, and etc. are all very important to having a respectful community. If I had to add a commandment, I would add a commandment about judgement. I strongly believe that only God can judge. Recently there have been a few incidents in my life, (not about me) that involve people judging others. I have seen many people that have been hurt, and even tears shed from these harsh judgements. These judgements are just based on someone's appearance, attitude, or feelings. If I was God, I would add a commandment that would prevent people from hurting others through this terrible way. I believe that everyone will be judged one day, and none of the little things that the people on earth judge you about will matter. So I would keep all of the commandments, but i would add an 11th on judgement.
I read over all three of the parables. I had heard all of them before in church, but hadn't really applied them to real life situations, or my life. I know they each have a message, and I understand them, but I had never thought about how these stories could affect my life. The parable of the Good Samaritan really stuck out to me. I love the message in this story; it teaches us all to reach out and help others, even if it isn't our duty. A priest, who is supposed to be very helpful and holy, passed the beaten man and simply ignored him. Then, a Levite (which I looked up and is basically a helper of a priest) passed him and also ignored the man. Finally, a traveling man passed the him. The Samaritan stopped, and helped this beaten man. The good Samaritan did not only help him, he went above and beyond and gave him a place to stay. He payed for his food and clothes. The good Samaritan had never even seen this man and made a huge sacrifice for him. I think that is one of the most powerful things someone can do for a person. This story really reminded me of the community service we do at Berkeley. At this school, we are taught to go out in the community, and go above and beyond for others who are in need. I remember in 6th and 7th grade, going to food banks and homeless shelters. We would help these people in need, who we had never met. Seeing the grateful looks on their faces made me feel more content than I had ever felt in my entire life. I have this really strong memory of one of the bus rides back from community service. It was really cold, so we all had rushed onto the bus. As we were pulling away from the food bank, I remember looking out the window. There was this old woman, walking through the parking lot. I remember how worn she looked. She was hunched over form the cold. Her skin was worn, her hair matted. She had no coat and her shoes were so worn down that you could see her feet. I sat on my bus seat and watched her struggle against the wind. As she was crossing the side walk, a business man quickly brushed by her, only glancing down then returning to typing furiously on his cell phone. She looked so helpless, I don't know how he could pass her and not try and help. The woman walked over to a public bench and sat down to a homeless man. He was wearing a thin jacket, and was wrapped in an even thinner blanket. He took one look at the woman and without even thinking about it handed her his blanket. She smiled at him, and I could tell how much she appreciated it. As our bus pulled away, I couldn't help but think about how this man, who had practically nothing, helped this woman when no one else would. This situation makes me think a lot about this parable. Now thinking back on it, I think we should all try and be like the old homeless man, and less like the stern, cold business man. I think Jesus wants us to help others, even when we have practically nothing.
I don't believe the American view on the Islam religion is extremely unfair. Most of the American hate on Islams is based off of what happened at 9/11. That terrorist attack was caused by extremist. But as stated in the video we watched today in class, there are extremist in all religions, including the Christians that are persecuting them. It is not right for people to judge a whole race/religion based on a a couple people. That is like deciding that all bunnies are evil if your next door neighbor's rabbit bit you. (thats from personal experience) In the video, we met an Islamic family that was extremely friendly. They were born and raised in America, just believed in a different God and way of life. Americans should not assume that all Islamic people are bad. I have close family friends that are Islamic in fact. These people are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They have told us stories about all of the evil stares and things said to them. I feel so badly that these nice people are treated that way just because Americans don;t know what this religion is all about. Like in the video, the guy didn't really know what the religion was based on until spending time with them. Then, he wasn't afraid of them. The problem is that Americans do not know any accurate information about these people or their beliefs. If America was educated about this, I think there would be less racial profiling and hat against them.
Question # 2- I believe there is suffering because of free will. People have the ability to choose what path to take or the choices to make. I think that the consequences of our actions cause a lot of suffering. I know in Christianity, it is thought that there is suffering in the world because god gave us all our crosses to bear. I also believe in this. Things that happen that we have no control of (ex. cancer, sickness, death) i believe are our crosses and suffering given by god. I have been taught (and believe the majority of the time) that he gives us these because he loves us, and wants us to rely on him through the hard times. As humans, we all have these uncontrollable sufferings. But i think that we all create unnecessary suffering based on our actions. When we push people away, are mean to them, commit a crime, it think that we are basically causing ourselves much more trouble and suffering. But we do it anyways, because god gave us freewill.
Question #3- I believe in trying to live an honest, good life. First, i just want to say i defiantly do not do this a lot of the time. I screw up, a lot. But when i make choices, i usually try and make the decision that will have a positive impact. I have a strong belief in community service, and helping others. I think all people who have been blessed with so much have a duty to help those who haven't. I also believe in kindness. I always try and put myself in someone elses shoes in many situations. This makes me realize what they are going through and gives me so much more compassion and patience for them.
Question #4- What happens next? This is one of the things i have kind of been struggling with recently. I have been brought up to believe that there is a heaven and hell. And I really really want to believe in one, because i can't stand to think about how limited my time would be without one. 100 years is not a long time at all. I guess this question is one of those things you won't really know, until it actually happens. This one i think is the hardest question. I don't really have an answer, but i defiantly would like to think there is one. I guess this goes along with this, but i think i do belive in arudian angels. I kind of think of my grandmother, or grammy as mine. She died a year ago, and it has been hard on all of us. To think that her time is gone, and that she doesn't even exist anymore is really hard. So i think she is in heavan, wathcing over me.
Iris: Hello Ganesha. I studied your mom Parvati for a project. When you stood in the way of your father Shiva to protect your mom, were you scared at all?
Ganesha: I was a little scared, Shiva was very big, powerful, and intimidating. But it was my job (dharma?) to protect my mom.
Iris: Ganesha, how do you feel about the elephant head that your father found? Do you miss your other head?
Ganesha: It was really scary when he cut my head off, but the trunk isn't all that bad. And now my vehicle is the elephant, which represents wisdom.
Iris: Ganesha, how many times have you been reincarnated? Do you remember anything from your past lives?
Ganesha: I don't remember anything personal from my other lives, since i left my past jivas behind.
When you first explained this assignment on Friday, I was pretty excited. For our homework, we got to sit and just relax for 5 minutes everyday. This was very appealing, especially considering I am up everyday at 6 for volleyball workouts and don't get home until 6 to do homework. It seems like I never get a break; so this 5 minutes of relaxing seemed like the perfect homework assignment. Until I actually tried to be mindful on my first day, I didn't realize how hard it would be. My family and I were at a lacrosse tournament this entire weekend, so I decided to be mindful on Friday in the car on the way to Daytona. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Like I mentioned before, I don't really get quite breaks like this very often, so I tried to soak it all in. Even though I was in complete silence, I could not focus and clear my head. Thoughts about what I had to do the upcoming week, the tournament, and volleyball were all just rushing through my head. I tried to just calm myself down, but the silence seemed to frazzle me more. It brought more things to my mind that I hadn't thought to worry about. Being quiet and just thinking was kind of new for me, and freaked me out in a way. I eventually just gave up, opened my eyes, and turned on some music. Saturday's meditation went a lot better. I was at the lacrosse fields for the majority of the day, but we came back and went to the beach. Sarah Munger also has a brother on the lacrosse team, so we both went to the beach. She and I were sitting on the warm sand, and this assignment came to mind. I closed my eyes and tried to meditate. I took in the different sounds: the seagulls soaring over us, the couples walking along the beach, the waves crashing along the shore. I took in a deep breath and tried to relax. This time I tried focusing on these sounds, instead of just silence. I think this tactic worked a lot better. Whenever something worrisome would cross my mind, I would try and just focus on the sounds of the beach. I think this really helped. After I thought it had been about 5 minutes, I opened my eyes. I realized I felt much more relaxed. I wasn't stressed about anything, and just got to enjoy the say on the beach with my friend. Sunday, I tried the tactic of listening to something while being mindful. I looked up sounds of the ocean, since the beach is my all time place in the world. I turned it on, sat on my bed, and just focused on the waves. I began to just get lost in them. I focused on my breathing and the waves, and hardly any stressful thoughts came to mind. After awhile, I opened my eyes. 15 minutes had passed! I was so surprised, it had only felt like 5. Afterwords, i felt very relaxed and more at peace.
If I was God, and I was giving the Ten Commandments all over again, I would not take any of them out. I believe that all of the commandments there are very important to live by, not only for Christians and Jews, but all people. The first commandments about how to worship God obviously doesn't really apply to non monotheistic religious people, but all of the other commandments should be observed by them. I believe that honoring your father and mother, not coveting your neighbor;s things, and etc. are all very important to having a respectful community. If I had to add a commandment, I would add a commandment about judgement. I strongly believe that only God can judge. Recently there have been a few incidents in my life, (not about me) that involve people judging others. I have seen many people that have been hurt, and even tears shed from these harsh judgements. These judgements are just based on someone's appearance, attitude, or feelings. If I was God, I would add a commandment that would prevent people from hurting others through this terrible way. I believe that everyone will be judged one day, and none of the little things that the people on earth judge you about will matter. So I would keep all of the commandments, but i would add an 11th on judgement.
I read over all three of the parables. I had heard all of them before in church, but hadn't really applied them to real life situations, or my life. I know they each have a message, and I understand them, but I had never thought about how these stories could affect my life. The parable of the Good Samaritan really stuck out to me. I love the message in this story; it teaches us all to reach out and help others, even if it isn't our duty. A priest, who is supposed to be very helpful and holy, passed the beaten man and simply ignored him. Then, a Levite (which I looked up and is basically a helper of a priest) passed him and also ignored the man. Finally, a traveling man passed the him. The Samaritan stopped, and helped this beaten man. The good Samaritan did not only help him, he went above and beyond and gave him a place to stay. He payed for his food and clothes. The good Samaritan had never even seen this man and made a huge sacrifice for him. I think that is one of the most powerful things someone can do for a person. This story really reminded me of the community service we do at Berkeley. At this school, we are taught to go out in the community, and go above and beyond for others who are in need. I remember in 6th and 7th grade, going to food banks and homeless shelters. We would help these people in need, who we had never met. Seeing the grateful looks on their faces made me feel more content than I had ever felt in my entire life. I have this really strong memory of one of the bus rides back from community service. It was really cold, so we all had rushed onto the bus. As we were pulling away from the food bank, I remember looking out the window. There was this old woman, walking through the parking lot. I remember how worn she looked. She was hunched over form the cold. Her skin was worn, her hair matted. She had no coat and her shoes were so worn down that you could see her feet. I sat on my bus seat and watched her struggle against the wind. As she was crossing the side walk, a business man quickly brushed by her, only glancing down then returning to typing furiously on his cell phone. She looked so helpless, I don't know how he could pass her and not try and help. The woman walked over to a public bench and sat down to a homeless man. He was wearing a thin jacket, and was wrapped in an even thinner blanket. He took one look at the woman and without even thinking about it handed her his blanket. She smiled at him, and I could tell how much she appreciated it. As our bus pulled away, I couldn't help but think about how this man, who had practically nothing, helped this woman when no one else would. This situation makes me think a lot about this parable. Now thinking back on it, I think we should all try and be like the old homeless man, and less like the stern, cold business man. I think Jesus wants us to help others, even when we have practically nothing.
I don't believe the American view on the Islam religion is extremely unfair. Most of the American hate on Islams is based off of what happened at 9/11. That terrorist attack was caused by extremist. But as stated in the video we watched today in class, there are extremist in all religions, including the Christians that are persecuting them. It is not right for people to judge a whole race/religion based on a a couple people. That is like deciding that all bunnies are evil if your next door neighbor's rabbit bit you. (thats from personal experience) In the video, we met an Islamic family that was extremely friendly. They were born and raised in America, just believed in a different God and way of life. Americans should not assume that all Islamic people are bad. I have close family friends that are Islamic in fact. These people are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They have told us stories about all of the evil stares and things said to them. I feel so badly that these nice people are treated that way just because Americans don;t know what this religion is all about. Like in the video, the guy didn't really know what the religion was based on until spending time with them. Then, he wasn't afraid of them. The problem is that Americans do not know any accurate information about these people or their beliefs. If America was educated about this, I think there would be less racial profiling and hat against them.